CRIME FIGURES VINDICATE EMBATTLED MET POLICE COMMANDER

The controversial drugs policies of Brian Paddick, the pioneering
police commander, have resulted in an increase in arrests for hard
drugs and a fall in levels of street crime and burglary in his
notorious London borough.

Metropolitan Police figures show drug arrests have risen by more than
65 per cent in a year in Lambeth after Commander Paddick decided not
to arrest cannabis users so officers could pursue dealers in heroin
and crack cocaine instead.

There were 159 class A drug arrests in Lambeth last month compared
with 96 for both cannabis and class A drugs in the similar period last
year.

During the period, levels of street crime have been cut by 35 per cent
and burglaries have fallen by more than 8 per cent in one of Britain's
most notorious high-crime areas. The findings show the scheme has not
transformed the district into a haven of drug dealing, as critics have
claimed.

Commander Paddick, Britain's most high-ranking openly gay officer,
began a new administrative role yesterday after being moved by
Scotland Yard because of an interview in a Sunday newspaper by the
officer's former gay lover.

James Renolleau, a former cashier at Westminster Abbey, claimed
Commander Paddick had smoked cannabis "hundreds of times" and allowed
a stash of the drug to be kept in his home. Commander Paddick has
denied the allegations and claimed he is a target of homophobic
elements within the police and the press.

The officer was earlier criticised for expressing sympathy with
anarchist philosophy on an internet website.

But latest crime figures for Lambeth show Commander Paddick can claim
success for his unorthodox drugs scheme, which is being evaluated by
Scotland Yard.

Arrests for class A drugs rose from 90 last December to 107 in January
and 159 last month. Street robberies, which were running at more than
30 a day in the borough in the aftermath of the 11 September bombings,
when many Lambeth officers were redeployed to central London, have
been cut to 17 a day. The corresponding figure for last year is 23 a
day.

Burglaries, many of which are drug-related, have been cut by more than
8 per cent to 363 last month from 397 in February last year. Since the
introduction of the no-arrest cannabis policy last summer, burglaries
have dropped by 26 per cent and street crime has fallen by 6 per cent.

Sources say up to 2,500 police man-hours have been saved by removing
the bureaucratic requirements on officers making arrests for cannabis.
Yesterday Lee Jasper, chairman of the Lambeth Community Police
Consultative Group, said the crime figures vindicated Commander
Paddick's approach to the areas crime problems.

He said: "He's a tremendously effective officer. The number of crack
dealers that have been arrested has gone right up and he has managed
to drive down the number of street robberies."

Mr Jasper, who advises Ken Livingstone, London's Mayor, on policing,
said that a demonstration was being called at Lambeth Town Hall in
Brixton next Tuesday to demand the re-instatement of the police chief,
who faces an inquiry by an outside force under the supervision of the
Police Complaints Authority.

The Scotland Yard evaluation of the pilot scheme is expected by Easter
and will aid David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, in deciding whether
to downgrade cannabis to a class C drug, in effect making possession a
non-arrestable offence in England and Wales.